KENYA – Brookside Dairy, a leading dairy producer in Kenya, has partnered a Co-operative Bank’s capacity-building arm, the Co-op Consultancy and Insurance Agency in rolling out a training programme that seeks to enhance cooperate governance across the dairy sector.

Business
Daily reports that the
training programme targets official from more than 300 dairy co-operatives
across the country.

The officials will receive training on topics
such as performance measurement and internal controls to ensure that
co-operatives are better managed.

According to John Gethi, director of milk
procurement and manufacturing at Brookside Dairy, the programme lies within the
group’s trajectory of ensuring sustainable management practices for a
sustainable milk sector.

“It is in our best interest, as the main
market for raw milk from dairy co-operatives, that the groups adopt sustainable
management practices that would eventually encourage members to increase milk
production,” he said.

He also said
that Brookside remains committed in reinforcing its relation with institutions
as it seeks to provide improved and valuable services including provision of
financial services and farm inputs.

“As a result
of our partnership with dairy groups, many of them have grown to become
industry giants who have extended their business beyond the primary role of
marketing milk for smallholder farmers and ventured into provision of financial
services,” he added.

The
trainings are set to benefit cooperatives staff from 27 counties as part of its
strategy to encourage bulk milk sales.

Brookside notes
that through bulking, co-operatives have been able to reduce the cost of milk
marketing and enabled dairy farmers to realise higher returns through provision
of a reliable and remunerative outlet.

Brookside
Dairy, which procures nearly 1.5 million litres of raw milk every day, said it
largely owes its success to producers.

This comes
at a time when the firm has unveiled plans of adopting milk payment to suppliers
based on milk quality as it seeks to produce more premium products like ghee
and butter.

Brookside
Dairy also launched a bonus scheme to reward farmers who surpassed the delivery
targets as firm races to tap more raw milk against it major competitors like
New KCC.

Founded in
1993 in Kenya, Brookside also exports to Uganda and Tanzania.